The most significant aspect of the US Presidential elections is the dramatic shift of the entire political spectrum to the Right. Fundamental reactionary changes in the US constitution, social legislation, international politics and law, as well as historical experience have become the common language of both major candidates in this election, without any mass popular... Read More

Aristotle defined an oligarchy as a polity in which the few elect the rulers to govern over the many. That formula fits exactly the description of US primaries and general elections. In New York State where only 15% of the party members voted in the recent Democratic primaries, Kerry won with 8% of the registered... Read More

James Petras is a Bartle Professor (Emeritus) of Sociology at Binghamton University, New York.

He is the author of more than 62 books published in 29 languages, and over 600 articles in professional journals, including the American Sociological Review, British Journal of Sociology, Social Research, and Journal of Peasant Studies. He has published over 2000 articles in nonprofessional journals such as the New York Times, the Guardian, the Nation, Christian Science Monitor, Foreign Policy, New Left Review, Partisan Review, TempsModerne, Le Monde Diplomatique, and his commentary is widely carried on the internet.

His publishers have included Random House, John Wiley, Westview, Routledge, Macmillan, Verso, Zed Books and Pluto Books. He is winner of the Career of Distinguished Service Award from the American Sociological Association’s Marxist Sociology Section, the Robert Kenny Award for Best Book, 2002, and the Best Dissertation, Western Political Science Association in 1968. His most recent titles include Unmasking Globalization: Imperialism of the Twenty-First Century (2001); co-author The Dynamics of Social Change in Latin America (2000), System in Crisis (2003), co-author Social Movements and State Power (2003), co-author Empire With Imperialism (2005), co-author)Multinationals on Trial (2006).

He has a long history of commitment to social justice, working in particular with the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement for 11 years. In 1973-76 he was a member of the Bertrand Russell Tribunal on Repression in Latin America. He writes a monthly column for the Mexican newspaper, La Jornada, and previously, for the Spanish daily, El Mundo. He received his B.A. from Boston University and Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.

I think an interesting study of massacres could be done by contrasting Amritsar from Hama. In the 1919 Amritsar massacre the British effective stoked the flames of Indian nationalism by the apparent betrayal of a largely loyal people. Conversely the 1982 Hama massacre not only put an end to years...

Here, where I live in Florida, the idea of armed resistance to the federal (or state) government seems remote.
LMAO just thinking about The Villagers forming a golf-cart posse to chase down Israel-trained, cast-off Iraq war materiel-shielded hi-tech weapon-armed police.
Toto, we're not i...

There's no doubt that guns have always played an important part in US culture. However, up until the 80's that culture was still more or less non-radical, lacking in extremes, normal in the sense that guns were kept for "ordinary" practices such as marksmanship, hunting, collecting etc.
Things c...

"Anyone who thinks that inanimate objects have agency and do things themselves is either so stupid or so dishonest"
Quite right. This is why death by ice cream stick & nuclear bombs are completely equal. Both lack human agency so either ban both or ban neither.
Guns don't kill people, peopl...

I honestly think gun ownership is not the problem. the problem is not allowing more background checks. you want to own an assault rifle, be prepare to have your entire living history laid bare to the govt. it is a dangerous weapon, must make sure only the sane and logical gets it.
I bet g...

"There is also little doubt that the NRA is in bed with the gun manufacturers, and is in the business of inventing all kinds of scary fictions designed to promote sales of guns. For example, if ordinary people don’t have guns, then only criminals (and cops) will have guns."
Isn't the history o...

I fixed that for you:
However the Second Amendment is not about scaring away burglars, but about restricting the power of the federal government which can result in apocalyptic civil war.
That is what really scares you.
More importantly that scares your ilk and even concerns, a bit, TPTBs.
...

Before the adoption of the "AR" design to replace the M-14, the only uses for the hot-loaded .22-.27 calibers I ever heard discussed were for long-range shots at small- and medium-size game. And the use of surplus military long guns in .30 calibers for hunting was common--Garands, Springfields,...

It is, indeed, entirely reasonable to identify and evaluate persons threatening or attacking those around them. But that isn't the issue. What is at issue is the refusal by the sheriff department and the school district to identify and evaluate--and constrain from firearm purchase by means of ...

This isn't the "alternative media" I seek at the Unz Review. This leftist "social scientist" lists the prescriptions and proscriptions the NYT has listed for the last 50 years. That public schools are inferior and undesireable doesn't occur to him. That the replacement of familial, church/temp...

The problem with guns in the US is that there are a number of different, but overlapping agendas.
If there was to be a general referendum today on repealing the Second Amendment, I am pretty sure that it would be soundly defeated, because a majority of Americans feel the need to keep guns as a...